Finding Answers
by MissingMommy
Summary: Charlie's family comes to Romania to surprise him, only to be surprised themselves . :: CharlieDraco, Charlie&OC friendship. For Rish.


For the last ship standing comp where I used the prompts, word: infinity, emotion: elated, and the song: Smile by Uncle Kracker, more specifically, the line "I see the best of me inside your eyes".

For the OTP boot camp. Prompt used: yelling.

For Rish, again, because I'm still trying to sway her on CharlieDraco. Maybe this will help?

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Zoelie curses as she pulls her blonde hair into ponytail. She's running late. She was supposed to be back in Romania an hour ago, but time managed to slip away from her. She's just about out of the Romanian International Floo building when she runs, quite literally, into a group of red-heads.

A smile crosses her face because those mops of red hair are unmistakable. Of course, her best friend's hair is lighter now from the years in the sunlight, but the vibrancy of it is his trademark. "You must be Charlie's family," she says. Her eyebrows furrow slightly. "Though, he didn't mention you were coming."

She glances around at the group. His parents stand together, holding hands. And his brothers are wearing confused looks. The youngest one, Zoelie judges, gives her a glare. "Who are you?" he demands.

Holding out her hand, she replies, "I'm Zoelie. I work closely with Charlie." Her eyes pass through the group, watching each person before landing on Charlie's mother. His mother's eyes are lit up, causing Zoelie to shake her head slightly and murmur, "Not like that." However, it goes unnoticed by all.

Zoelie's wrist warms and she shoves her sleeve up, noticing the time. "I suppose you are here to see Charlie," she says. "You won't find him at home. He's probably getting coffee before our shift. You can follow me."

With a sweep of her robes, she starts to walk out of the building, towards the town. Charlie's family falls into step with her. They have questions, which Zoelie doesn't mind answering. She knows how Charlie is about writing home. It's the simple _is he safe? _and _is he eating properly?_ Charlie had warned her about his mother's tendency to worry that he isn't getting enough to eat.

The tiny, out-of-the-way coffee shop comes into view. His family is too busy talking to her (and amongst themselves) to look inside the coffee shop, but Zoelie smiles when she does. Charlie is standing at the counter, picking up the cups of coffee, while at the table nearest the door, a familiar blond sits, watching Charlie with light eyes.

She smiles brightly. Draco wasn't supposed to be in town until the weekend, which is the only reason she and Charlie are working today. She watches quietly as Charlie hands one of the three cups to Draco, and takes a seat.

Turning around, Zoelie is met with confused stares. She quickly scans their faces, and realization dawns on her. "He hasn't told you," she whispers, more to herself than to anyone else.

"What are you talking about?" his mother asks softly, her eyes never moving from the window where Charlie and Draco are talking.

Zoelie sighs. "I told him to tell you," she groans, rubbing her fingers across her forehead. She looks up, and motions with her head toward the window. "They're together. Have been for nearly a year and a half."

"What the bloody hell?" his youngest brother nearly yells, his face becoming as red as his hair.

She watches as his hands shake with anger, and knows that he's about to charge into the coffee shop. She quickly moves in front of him, trying desperately to remember his name. At the moment, she just glares at him, causing him to stop in his tracks. "Don't you dare," she warns. "Don't you dare ruin this for Charlie."

His face drains of color as she glares. An infinity could have passed before he speaks, "Doesn't Charlie know who he is?" The demanding tone in his voice is evident. He's pointing towards the coffee shop with dislike written on his face.

"Believe me, Charlie knows exactly who he is. It's caused more than its fair share of arguments between the two," she replies, her voice low. She turns to glance at Charlie before looking back at Charlie's brother. "But the thing is that Charlie doesn't care about that. Charlie cares about him for him, not his surname."

There's a long pause as Zoelie scans the faces of Charlie's family again, trying to gage their reactions. "Look, I've known Charlie for nearly ten years, and I've never seen him as happy as he is when he's with Draco," she informs them, a fond smile on her lips. "And some part of Charlie _needs_ Draco to keep him steady. Draco was the one that helped Charlie when he needed it the most."

She doesn't wait for the question to be asked before she explains. "After the war, Charlie was different. All he did was work and eat. It was a fight to get him to sleep. He just wanted something to make him stop thinking about the war, and his solace was working. And I couldn't take that from him," she whispers sadly.

"He never told us about this," one of his other brothers says – Percy, perhaps, but Zoelie can't be for certain. "Why didn't he tell us?"

Zoelie snaps her head up from where she was looking down, and meets his brother's eyes. "The thing about Charlie is that he didn't want you all to worry. He thought you had enough on your plates; he didn't want to add his problems to the mix. So he did the only thing he could do – work."

She nods towards the coffee shop. "Until he showed up. He gave Charlie something to come home to. He keeps Charlie steady, grounded just as much as Charlie keeps him down to size. And whether or not he admits it, Draco does care about Charlie. Don't ever doubt that."

"Why Draco, though?" his youngest brother questions. And Zoelie knows why he's asking. Charlie had told her about the bad history between Draco and his siblings, but she hadn't really expected it to run this deep.

A smirk crosses her face. "Draco's his dragon."

The bell to the coffee shop rings, and she turns to see Charlie walking out of it with two cups of coffee in his hand and an elated expression across his face. Handing her the coffee, he kisses her cheek. "Tell management I won't be in today, will you?" he asks. Before she can answer, he has his arms wrapped around his mother, spinning her in a circle.

Zoelie hears her laughter and her squeal of, "Put me down, Charlie!" It causes her to smile. She's never seen Charlie be around his family as she's always been home during holidays and his family visited while she was away.

"I didn't know you were coming!" he exclaims as he moves on to his next hug. His sister grins as he pulls her into a tight hug. As he moves on to clap his youngest brother on the shoulder, he shies away slightly. Zoelie watches as a smile slips off Charlie's face and his eyebrows furrow. He glances around at his family before turning a questioning gaze to Zoelie when he doesn't find the answer.

She shakes her head. "I told you to tell them," is all she says. She watches as realization dawns on his face.

He picks up his coffee from its place on the ground, and drains the last of it. "Well, I'm guessing Zoe told you," Charlie murmurs, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "I can explain why I didn't tell you." His mother puts her hands on her hips, and his brother folds his arms across his chest, while the rest of his family just waits patiently for the answer.

Zoelie smirks and pats Charlie's shoulder. "Good luck, Charlie," she whispers as she walks away, leaving Charlie to fend for himself. She's already told them why Charlie needs Draco; it's up to him to show them how much he does.

**A/n – thanks so much to my beautiful Paula for beta-ing this; otherwise, my tenses would be all screwed up. **


End file.
